Food plotting strategy

[Peplin Creek]

I wanted to open a topic up about plotting strategies. The last couple of years i have had a total of 7 plots none bigger than 1/2 acre. Mostly kills plots. I have tried to split the planting’s up by forage. So I had some plots in brassica mixes, some in clover and the rest in cereal grains. The thought behind this was to give deer something that they wanted most of the fall and gets them moving around more. This has worked nicely for me so I am hesitate to change completely.

I did stumble across a strategy, In which has peaked my interest though. It envolves taking all the plots that you plant and planting the same mixes in each. So I would think something like LC mix would work, something that provides attraction all season. The thought process behind it is that it creates less competition amongst deer, because they can go to any of those plots and get the same thing. Less competition, less stress, healthier herd.... it’s an interesting concept. I could see it as an easier option for patterning deer as well.... I think.. but maybe not.

I know given my plot sizes I can’t influence overall health in the deer herd. Being in ag country, it does serve as a good feeding station before they head out to the larger ag fields though. So maybe planting mostly the same thing makes a lot of sense.

I think I might create a hybrid strategy of both concepts moving forward.

What strategies do other on here do? Pros/cons of it? Things you would like to do different or continue doing. Being the “off-season” it’s nice to hear differences and critically think about ways of improving each other’s abilities and hunting opportunities.

 

[EarthySpirit]

I'm a newbie, getting ready to put in 5 new plots this spring (all 1/2 acre or less). And I have 2 1/8 acre clover plots I started last year. So it seems you and I have the same concerns. I'm eager to hear what those with more experience will say.

 

[bbcoach]

We plant our plots in planted pines as you can see from my 1/2 acre avatar clover pic to the left. Most of our plots are 1/10 to 1/2 acre and we plant for max tonnage, as you do, for a couple of reasons 1. we want to grow as much as we can without competition from various plant species 2. it allows us to have a yearly rotation of brassicas and grains. Our clover plots are strictly clover to give the deer and turkeys food throughout the entire year and they keep the clover trimmed really well. IMO the biggest problem with small plots, is without tonnage, they get eaten to the ground very quickly. Our deer herd is very healthy with this strategy. With selective buck harvest, we are seeing an increase in antler size and the does are dropping healthy fawns also. This strategy seems to work well for us. LC's mix has you planting different things in strips. He warns not to mix anything with brassicas because they will outcompete other species and shade them out. IMO small plot planting, planting in strips, does exactly that. This strategy works well for us but may not be for everyone.

 

[Bowman]

Greetings. I have been planting for a few years. Before this became my home, I paid for the work to be done. All of my planting was broadcast. No other implements except for a hand mower that I killed. I had to pay for additional discing as I had tremendous growth of mullein and thistles, 6-7 foot tall. I still can not identify many weeds.
I must say that I have sand and little OM.
Since then I have learned a little.
I am working to build my soil and have had failures.
However, in a field that I called a beach that only grew sweet fern and blueberries, I am making some progress.
I tried a blend from Ed Spinnazola, Wildlife Cover and Forage Blend. Twice. Also planted some switchgrass. Amendments did not work. Not blaming the mix. Still had blueberries but the sweet fern was diminishing.
Last year, I planted sudangrass for roots, Arvika peas and buckwheat, mowed and then planted a mix to follow. Very cool summer in northern Michigan with a very cool summer, many nights in the 40's. Sunn hemp in another field did not do much. Second failure with that. Best germination and growth ever with the sudangrass planting, not the mix.
I must build soil. Big disclaimer, I use no Roundup. Can't say for sure, but if it kills tha plants, it can't be good for micro-oraganisms. I have read of some improvement of micro-organisms in studies from the phosphorous in Roundup, but all of my fields are high in phosphorous.
This year, I hope, I will create a central plot. Wanted to do this last year, but could not pull it off. Last year, I spent most of my time removing rocks from my best soil. That field is planted in alfalfa, clovers and overseeded with cereal rye.
The year before, I had better bucks on camera. I thought that I was making progress, some nice bucks and numbers, but no Booners. I am in the TB zone in northern LP Michigan. This year, the number of bucks is way down.
Ideally, I will provide food all year, bedding and fawning. Last year, we had the privilege of watching the birth of two fawns. I watched for hours and then saw them follow the mother. Beautiful.
Onward.
I am rambling, but my plan is to provide the deer what they need throughout the year and create "predictable" movement on my for them 60 acres.
If I can build the soil, hopefully I can do better.
Overall, I plan to provide various forages throughout the year with hopefully a central combo type plot with winter carryover.
Last for now. I have some trails planted in clovers, some trefoil is growing, never planted.

 

[FarmerDan]

Strategy. I love the word, but what does it mean to have a strategy? Sorry. That sounds too much like the opening of a lecture. Not to put too fine a point on it, aren't food plots a tactic or an objective in a bigger plan? For my situation food plots are the icing on the cake. My objective is to know the type and quality of land cover on not only my farm but on surrounding lands as well. The placement size and type of food plots are dependent on that knowledge. My objective is to make my habitat more attractive than that which surrounds me. I want to believe every deer around me will end up on a trail to one of the food plots and/or in a food plot at sometime in the hunting season. So, relative to what ag crops are in the area, I want to provide something more attractive. Can it then be said the plots will be more attractive than forest and shrubland? Improvement of it is also a large part of strategy. Can you have one without the other?

I've not provide much to bite on. Kill plots are always white clover. If the farmers are planting corn here. It will be harvested from mid-August to mid-September, leaving a supply gap until cover crops get planted in November. That gap is an opportunity. If the ag crop is soybeans they get planted in May or July. I'll plant soybeans in June or August. If wheat or cover crops get planted on ag ground it won't happen here until late October, early November. Planting rye, oats, and clover -- the LC mix -- provides benefit when planted in August. Radishes are good, then, too. Brassics here are not so popular.

Herd health and antler growth are non-factors in my food plotting objectives. There's just too much food year round for me to be able to make a difference. Maybe that makes a little sense?

 

[yoderjac]

Pep,

If you are not trying to feed deer, it really takes a lot of issues out of food plots. Weeds are generally not an issue for cool season plots in most places. There are a few warm season annuals that can be attractive in the fall like corn and bean. For beans, unless you are in soybean country, you generally need larger plots for these. Since weeds are generally not an issue for fall plots, the advantage of being able to select a herbicide for a monoculture go away. Smartly chosen mixes can really be complementary. Each part of the mix peaks at a different time and uses different nutrients from the soil. If you have multiple plots, I doubt if it really makes much difference.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[SwampCat]

My strategy is to provide as much food as I can, year round, with as little time and labor as possible. On my home 300 acres - I plant two plots of eagle seed forage beans - four acres and seven acres. I top seed wheat in the bean plots at bean leaf drop in Oct - so my 11 acres of beans now become eleven acres of wheat complete with bean pods. I bush hog the bean plots the end of Feb, roundup two weeks later, fertilze early Apr and replant beans with a woods seeder the end of Apr. I have four other plots from one to two acres that are a combination of durana clover and wheat. To begin with, I plant wheat and durana. i usually bush hog once in end of july, plant wheat with a woods seeder end of Sep into standing clover and bush hog again and it starts all over. Also spread fertilizer in the fall. I have another upland plot wheat and arrowleaf. I roundup it end of July, bushhog mid Aug, spread wheat and fertilizer end of Sep and lightly disk and arrowleaf reseeds and it starts all over again. I have one other two acre plot that is pure wheat. i roundup mid june to kill everything because I want to keep
wheat pure for summer dove food. I bush hog end of september for doves. Fertilize and plant wheat with woods seeder end of Sep and start all over again.

This provides a high protien, year round food source plust a burst of fall growth for fall hunting. I have considered forgoing the wheat but I attract a large number of deer to my place in the fall and winter and I feel the wheat gives a quick growth spurt in the fall. I am going to add one more, four acre dedicated durana plot this coming fall. This is about the least labor intensive strategy that I have used in my forty years of planting food plots. I am not crazy about mixed plots because of the difficulty in weed control. Some of the other methods - like throw n mow - just do not seem to provide as much food per square foot as more cultivated plantings. Wheat is cheap - eagle seed beans are not - but they provide a lot of high protien food for a lot of months. I have tried a multitude of different plantings - and at least on my ground - I have not found anything that provides as much food and as much use.

I also plant ten acres sunflowers for doves and seven or eight acres of millet for ducks.

 

[Ed Brodt]

We have been at it for four years now. We plant 5-6 plots ranging in size from 1 acre to 1/10 acre. Always plant grains and brassicas and have some clover going in a plot or two. Ran across a plan called layering that we are going to try this year along with our clover plots. Hard to beat clover. https://www.whitetailhabitatsolutions.com/blog/layered-food-plots-for-whitetails . Seems to provide something from late summer into late winter. Give it a look. Makes some sense to me.

 

[j-bird]

My plots I try to provide a one stop feeding destination (even though I am in ag country). However I specifically target the fall and winter time frames, with some spill over into spring. I don't care if the deer want to go eat soybeans on the neighbors farm in the summer. As such I have a defined plot area. I then brake up that area into a cool season perennial section (clovers and chicory) a summer annual (usually soybeans or corn for the fall/winter grain) and then I will overseed the summer annual with cereal grains and brassica in the fall....or if the summer crop fails I will turn it into a proper fall annual plot. I then tend to have some fruit trees planted in the clover plot as well. I don't want my plots any bigger than they need to be and as such I try to maximize how much I can provide from the square foot of dirt.

What I feel this does is it allows the deer (does) to relate to one feeding area during hunting season. By creating an established feeding area I think this allows the does to more regularly bed in the same area and makes them easier to hunt as well as better defines how the bucks will move looking for those feeding and bedding areas as well. It also helps develop better, not great but better, access to stands to minimize education those deer. Does it work? I don't know. I say that because I have never done it any other way. I focus on keeping the does happy as I do not hold mature bucks. By trying to provide as ideal a situation as I can for the does I thus use them as the bait for the bucks in November. Sure I grow the occasional 2 yo or so, but the true brutes come from beyond my place.

All this is why it is important to understand the limitations of your property and how and why the deer use your place in a larger picture. I know we try to provide the perfectly balanced habitat, but in reality, because we control so little property, the deer are still going to roam and all we can do is try to get those deer to spend a little bit more time on our place vs the neighbors.

 

[SwampCat]

My plots I try to provide a one stop feeding destination (even though I am in ag country). However I specifically target the fall and winter time frames, with some spill over into spring. I don't care if the deer want to go eat soybeans on the neighbors farm in the summer. As such I have a defined plot area. I then brake up that area into a cool season perennial section (clovers and chicory) a summer annual (usually soybeans or corn for the fall/winter grain) and then I will overseed the summer annual with cereal grains and brassica in the fall....or if the summer crop fails I will turn it into a proper fall annual plot. I then tend to have some fruit trees planted in the clover plot as well. I don't want my plots any bigger than they need to be and as such I try to maximize how much I can provide from the square foot of dirt.

What I feel this does is it allows the deer (does) to relate to one feeding area during hunting season. By creating an established feeding area I think this allows the does to more regularly bed in the same area and makes them easier to hunt as well as better defines how the bucks will move looking for those feeding and bedding areas as well. It also helps develop better, not great but better, access to stands to minimize education those deer. Does it work? I don't know. I say that because I have never done it any other way. I focus on keeping the does happy as I do not hold mature bucks. By trying to provide as ideal a situation as I can for the does I thus use them as the bait for the bucks in November. Sure I grow the occasional 2 yo or so, but the true brutes come from beyond my place.

All this is why it is important to understand the limitations of your property and how and why the deer use your place in a larger picture. I know we try to provide the perfectly balanced habitat, but in reality, because we control so little property, the deer are still going to roam and all we can do is try to get those deer to spend a little bit more time on our place vs the neighbors.

I agree - every area is different. There are no ag crops in my area and no neighboring food plots. Bulk quantity of readily available food is what puts deer on my place - winter and summer. There is plenty of bedding and fawning cover all around me. Plenty of water. Plenty of browse and plenty of acorns. But deer like easy, high protein food. I want my place to be their “kitchen”.

 

[yoderjac]

We have been at it for four years now. We plant 5-6 plots ranging in size from 1 acre to 1/10 acre. Always plant grains and brassicas and have some clover going in a plot or two. Ran across a plan called layering that we are going to try this year along with our clover plots. Hard to beat clover. https://www.whitetailhabitatsolutions.com/blog/layered-food-plots-for-whitetails . Seems to provide something from late summer into late winter. Give it a look. Makes some sense to me.

Amazing how tried and true methods that have been used for many years can be renamed and reanalyzed as something new. :)

 

[Bowman]

Cereal rye greens up in the spring also. The oats are done. Fall seeding of clover with the rye is a great way to establish clover.

 

[Bowman]

Should have said perennial clovers.

 

[Bill]

Peplin
I kind of do that but it wasn't by design. Just how it works out I guess. My main plots are beans, clover and Rye.
Seems I have a bunch of clover plots any where from 1/4 acre to 2 acres. Beans are always close by and always get rye broadcast into them in Sept. Lots of beans in my neighborhood but they all get picked s mine are a big draw. From what I see beans are utilized in the brown stage as much as in the summer.

I had brassica's isolated this fall but it's the first time I've had success planting them so that doesn't count.

But having these plots similar in different places doesn't keep them from moving around. They seem to have to bounce around to each plot by nature.

 

[Bucktown]

Good thread and good info. Simply put, variety in your food plots is to insure that us as human beings will have the best chance to grow a crop, not to give the deer something to choose from. Variety gives you some leeway in the event that a particular crop fails, you won't lose everything. Stick to crops native to your area and deer will eat them. Whether deer use your food plots, and when, is a factor of human pressure, weather, wind direction etc. I just don't see deer wandering around the woods with a thought in their head "I'm not eating anywhere until I find xxxxxx". Biologically for a deer the key is proteins in the spring & carbohydrates in the fall. Keep it simple.....Soybeans, clover (spring/summer proteins), wheat, oats, rye, bean pods (carbohydrates) are native almost universally throughout the whitetails range. Create a mix of those & it works almost anywhere in a lot of the northern/Midwest range of the whitetail. Add in something else if you'd like to experiment (turnips, tape, radish etc) just don't oversseed. More seed does not equal better food plot. Good luck with whichever direction you go and most importantly have fun doing it!

 

[SwampCat]

Peplin
I kind of do that but it wasn't by design. Just how it works out I guess. My main plots are beans, clover and Rye.
Seems I have a bunch of clover plots any where from 1/4 acre to 2 acres. Beans are always close by and always get rye broadcast into them in Sept. Lots of beans in my neighborhood but they all get picked s mine are a big draw. From what I see beans are utilized in the brown stage as much as in the summer.

I had brassica's isolated this fall but it's the first time I've had success planting them so that doesn't count.

But having these plots similar in different places doesn't keep them from moving around. They seem to have to bounce around to each plot by nature.

I agree - I think the does tend to set up shop on one food plot more than do the bucks. My land is long and skinny about 1.5 miles from one corner to the other. I have food plots on both sides and quite a few through the middle. I get pictures of a buck on the east side in the morn and the west side in the evening. The only pattern I see is the bucks are MUCH more likely to visit plots with clover in them than just wheat. I have one two acre plot 100 yards from a state highway and 300 yards from my house and barking dog - and just as many bucks, if not more - visit that plot as the one way down in the bottoms where there is little human activity. I have an eight acre wheat/rye plot in a native pecan grove. An evening or a morning sit - you will usually see ten to fifteen does - and probably no bucks. Cameras show even at night, bucks rarely visit the area, even though it is always covered with does. There are two plots in different directions - a little over a 1/4 mile away that both have clover and wheat. About two acres in size. Over half the deer you see are bucks - maybe 3/4’s. I have been food plotting for forty years and I am still learning. It was just this year I made the connection with the clover and the bucks - and maybe next year that wont hold true. The food plot with all the does and no bucks didnt come as a surprise to me - I have seen that happen before. I always have folks tell me if you want to kill a buck just hunt where the does are. In my experience - if you want to kill a buck - you hunt where the bucks are.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Simply put, variety in your food plots is to insure that us as human beings will have the best chance to grow a crop, not to give the deer something to choose from.

Does this not contradict the theory of something like the Lick Creek mix for example? The 10-45-45% combo is not insurance against a crop failure. It's to give the deer a variety of something in that plot early spring through fall.

Also, not sure I agree with you about deer not being highly selective when they browse. In my experience they are indeed highly selective browsers and will vary their preferences based on conditions that I am not sure I fully understand.

Stick to crops native to your area .

What do you mean by this? No food plot crop is truly native to an area. Native to your area = appropriate for the growing zone? Or native to your area = something everybody else is already growing?

Soybeans, clover, wheat, oats, rye, bean pods are native almost universally throughout the whitetails range..

What?

 

[yoderjac]

Good thread and good info. Simply put, variety in your food plots is to insure that us as human beings will have the best chance to grow a crop, not to give the deer something to choose from. Variety gives you some leeway in the event that a particular crop fails, you won't lose everything. Stick to crops native to your area and deer will eat them. Whether deer use your food plots, and when, is a factor of human pressure, weather, wind direction etc. I just don't see deer wandering around the woods with a thought in their head "I'm not eating anywhere until I find xxxxxx". Biologically for a deer the key is proteins in the spring & carbohydrates in the fall. Keep it simple.....Soybeans, clover (spring/summer proteins), wheat, oats, rye, bean pods (carbohydrates) are native almost universally throughout the whitetails range. Create a mix of those & it works almost anywhere in a lot of the northern/Midwest range of the whitetail. Add in something else if you'd like to experiment (turnips, tape, radish etc) just don't oversseed. More seed does not equal better food plot. Good luck with whichever direction you go and most importantly have fun doing it!

Well, there are a host of things variety provides and most of the crops we plant are not native to the places we plant them. Different crops peak at different times. That means they provide greater attraction at different times. A field with a smart mix of crops will stay attractive for a much longer time period than a monoculture. Different plants use different nutrients from the soil in different amounts and have different abilities to mine specific minerals from different soil depths. Legumes fix nitrogen from the air and when they die, it becomes available in the soil where grasses like corn and brassicas are big nitrogen consumers.

There is also a big difference between planting to attract deer and planting to improve herd health. The latter takes scale to start with. Beyond that, only a small percentage of a deer's diet comes from food plots. Most comes from native vegetation. When planting for herd health, the key is not just protein in the spring and carbs in the fall. It is understanding when the stress periods are in your location and using the food plots to cover periods when nature is not providing much in terms of quality foods. Food plots are then designed to provide quality food during this period. An abundance of food does not benefit deer. The key is minimizing periods where quality foods are not available.

Most folks don't have enough influence over enough land to impact herd health in a measurable way. Most are planting for attraction and to improve hunting on smaller properties. If you have several thousand acres and a good budget you can certainly influence herd health in a measurable way.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

Does this not contradict the theory of something like the Lick Creek mix for example? The 10-45-45% combo is not insurance against a crop failure. It's to give the deer a variety of something in that plot early spring through fall.

Also, not sure I agree with you about deer not being highly selective when they browse. In my experience they are indeed highly selective browsers and will vary their preferences based on conditions that I am not sure I fully understand.



What do you mean by this? No food plot crop is truly native to an area. Native to your area = appropriate for the growing zone? Or native to your area = something everybody else is already growing?



What?

I believe the term he was looking for is NATURALIZED. Many crops that are planted are not "native" but have been planted on the landscape in many cases before deer were on it.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

I believe the term he was looking for is NATURALIZED. Many crops that are planted are not "native" but have been planted on the landscape in many cases before deer were on it.

I think you're right. It does bring up the question though of the term naturalized? Wild apples are not native to the Northeast, but they grow naturally in the wild like weeds. They have been naturalized. Soybeans or rye or brassicas do not grow naturally in the wild. You can get them to grow annually with heavy investments of time and energy and resources. Does the term "naturalized" still apply in the very technical sense of the word?

Don't mind me....I'm just bored at work right now during my lunch break.